VANCOUVER - Shortly after four protesters locked themselves to the front door of the B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday, a judge threw out civil contempt charges against the dozens of people arrested on Burnaby Mountain.

They had been arrested for violating an injunction granted to Kinder Morgan to keep protesters off its controversial drilling sites.

Protesters have been trying to stop Kinder Morgan from conducing survey work for its proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.

The arrests were called into question earlier in the week when Kinder Morgan revealed the GPS co-ordinates that defined the "exclusion zones" of its work sites were off by up to 30 metres.

Justice Austin Cullen’s decision was good news for Simon Fraser University professor Lynn Quarmby, a protest leader who was arrested last week and continues to face a civil suit by Trans Mountain.

"What we heard from Justice Cullen this morning was an acknowledgement by the legal system of the incompetencies of Trans Mountain and the inappropriateness of the situation we've been found in," Quarmby said.

Cullen also ruled against extending the energy company's injunction, determining any additional time beyond the initial date of Dec. 1 was unnecessary. Trans Mountain had requested a new deadline of Dec. 12

"It may well be there is further work Trans Mountain would like to conduct more work on Burnaby Mountain, but it is not free to carry on doing work beyond the boundaries of what is absolutely necessary," argued a lawyer representing protesters.

Cullen also granted an interim change to the location of injunction area to accommodate the new GPS co-ordinates.

The decisions came after a day of civil disobedience both outside of the courthouse and on the mountain.

Protest groups estimate that arrests of people crossing the injunction lines now number over 100.

Among those apprehended and later released by police were David Suzuki’s grandson Tamo Campos and B.C. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs.

Four anti-pipeline activists chained themselves to the front door of the Supreme Court with bike locks on Thursday morning.

Around the same time, court proceedings temporarily ground to a halt after a fire alarm was triggered inside the building.

Inside the courthouse, a lawyer representing protesters said it’s costing Mounties $100,000 per day to police the protests.

Burnaby RCMP denied that claim, saying estimates have not yet been calculated.

Despite the dismissal of the civil charges, criminal charges against two protesters who are alleged to have spit in the face of police and interfered with an arrest will remain.

Kinder Morgan is trying to twin its 1,150-km oil pipeline from Alberta to B.C. and is seeking to tunnel the line under Burnaby Mountain. The expansion, which includes conservation land, is expected to increase capacity of the line from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The City of Burnaby has voted to stop Kinder Morgan from drilling, but a National Energy Board ruling allowed the company to overrule city bylaws. The city plans to appeal.